An apparatus known as an in-vehicle obstacle information notification apparatus notifies on-coming vehicle information to a driver when a vehicle makes a turn at an intersection (e.g., Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 further discloses a conventional technique for informing whether or not a pedestrian is present in a pedestrian crossing that the vehicle is to pass after making the right turn at the intersection.
An apparatus widely known as an in-vehicle navigation apparatus displays a map of a vehicle-traveling road on a display device. Additionally, some well-known in-vehicle navigation apparatuses enable a user to select a heading-up display mode and a north-up display mode for the road map displayed on a screen of the display device. The heading-up display mode is a display mode in which a present heading direction of the vehicle points to a top of the screen. The north-up display mode is a display mode in which north of the map is at the top of the screen.
Furthermore, in another known display mode, an approaching direction to the intersection points to the top of the display screen (e.g., Patent Document 2).    Patent Document 1: JP-2005-11249A1    Patent Document 2: JP-H6-265366A1
According to conventional techniques, in general, the map is fixedly displayed in the display mode that was set by a user. In the case of Patent Document 2, although the display mode of the map is changed depending on a distance to an intersection, the display mode of the map consistently remains the same after the distance to the intersection becomes smaller than a predetermined value.
Now, let us consider a case where obstacle information is displayed on an intersection map to notify the obstacle. The obstacles in this case may include, for example, an on-coming vehicle when the vehicle makes the right turn, a pedestrian in or around the pedestrian crossing that the vehicle is to pass after making the turn at the intersection, and the like. A display form that facilitates a driver's recognition of these obstacles is desirable.